The first Government Barometer on Illegal logging and Trade was carried out in early 2004, as a means of gauging EU Member State governments' commitment to implementing the FLEGT Action Plan agreed in 2003. The Barometer is now undertaken annually to assess how the actions are being progressed by EU Member States, and this is the fourth such review. This year, as in previous years, there are some positive actions to report; however, at a general level, progress towards meeting the commitments is unacceptably slow

While Austria and Lithuania have been able to demonstrate progress and successes at a national level in a number of areas since the last Barometer exercise, most countries appear to be prepared to leave the bulk of the implementation of FLEGT initiatives up to the European Commission and have done little, if anything, over the past year to progress implementation of FLEGT actions at a national level. However Member State actions at both national and international level are essential elements in the pan-EU movement to eliminate illegal logging and the trade in illegal timber and timber products within the EU. Actions being undertaken by the Commission alone will not be sufficient. Each EU Member State has to recognise the role it needs to play, and has to assume responsibility for fulfilling its part in the wider picture.

In 2007, as in previous years, the Barometer again demonstrates that there is still a long way to go before all the EU Member States fulfil their side of the bargain.

A. Good intentions are not matched by the necessary actions.
As in 2006, it is noticeable that the only questions which score an average of 1 point or more in the 2007 Government Barometer are those gauging governments' opinions or policies. As previously, all of the questions gauging action score an average of less than 1 point which indicates that, while some countries are working towards taking the necessary actions, the majority of countries are not.

B. Actions need to be made to work
The average score for the two questions assessing the effectiveness of implementation remains very low. The UK is the only country to score full marks for the effectiveness of its partnership work with Indonesia to reduce levels of illegal logging. These very low average scores indicate that a) more needs to be done to review and monitor the effectiveness of actions and b) those actions which have been implemented need to be fine-tuned to ensure that they deliver the maximum impact where it matters - on the ground where illegal logging takes place, and in the trade flows which continue to result in significant volumes of illegal timber finding their way into the EU market.

C. There is a need for countries to ensure that all relevant government departments ensure a systematic, co-ordinated approach to deliver on their commitments under the European Union's Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade.
Reflecting the situation in past years, many countries still have no formal inter-departmental initiatives to tackle the FLEGT actions in an integrated and comprehensive way. Given the complexity of the trade in illegal and unsustainable timber and wood products, it is essential that agencies work together, in all Member States, in a co-ordinated and comprehensive way, to solve the problem.

D. There is a lack of targeted, time bound action plans at a national level, which is hindering progress on implementing the EU FLEGT Action Plan.
Nearly all countries report that they have a national forest strategy, and in some cases this contains programmes addressing national illegal logging issues. While this is welcomed, what is needed - in each EU Member State - is a national action plan which co-ordinates the actions required to reduce and eliminate all forms of illegal and unsustainable logging and the related trade, both within the country and in terms of its trade footprint abroad. At present, only 6 countries have at least some form of an action plan of the kind required, which represents only a very small amount of progress in this area since 2006. This action plan needs to have explicit targets, to include a means of monitoring, and needs to incorporate mechanisms which ensure that the identified initiatives are put into practice and made to have the desired effect.

E. Government - at a national, regional and local level - can play a critically important role by putting in place public procurement policies to stop illegal and unsustainable timber and wood products being used in public contracts.
Procurement of legal and sustainable legal timber and wood products is one area where a Member State's public bodies can make a significant difference. To date, less than half of the EU Member States have introduced any form of policies of this kind. As well as working towards shaping market opinion which will make the sourcing of 'bad' timber unacceptable, the public sector in every country is a huge customer for timber and wood products. By proactively sourcing only timber and wood products from independently verified legal and sustainable sources, governments have the opportunity to set an example to the rest of the market and to demonstrate to the market as a whole that positive sourcing policies can make a difference.